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Monthly Archives: July 2012

If you’re working on channeling your choreographed energy into one superb 24-hour time frame, you might want to look into particpating in National Dance Day. An annual holiday put on by the Dizzy Feet Foundation, this year’s event was held on Saturday, July 28 at Grand Park in Los Angeles.

To celebrate, Groupon customer support representatives got together to strut their collective stuff. Rosie, the CS Dance Wrangler told us:

It was ridiculously fun and I was really happily overwhelmed with the positive response we got from the department.” Customer Service is hoping that the video will make an appearance on an upcoming episode of the television show So You Think You Can Dance!

Continuing the back to school theme, Groupon Grassroots, our philanthropic arm, rallies behind charities giving support to local educational organizations all this week. They also maintain a very active blog. Grassroots representative, Anna, takes time to tell us about it:

I am the campaign organizer for Grassroots campaigns that run in the Southwest. For instance, Tucson subscribers can help plant trees in Tucson’s school playgrounds through this week’s Grassroots campaign.

I also manage the blog at Grassroots, am developing a new community resource center for Grassroots community partners, and like the rest of our team, I help build out Groupon’s corporate responsibility in various ways since we are such a new program.

To a child, what seems like an endless summer vacation is actually a typical three-month time period. Which is why the youth of today must return to school to re-learn the calendar every September. Here are some back to school deals to help these young minds transition from summer siesta to autumn academia easily:

Back 2 School Supply Bundle – Premade bundle with more than 90 back-to-school supplies ranging from pens and pencils to folders and notebooks.

Today we welcome merchants to check out and explore the newly-revamped GrouponWorks.com – our digital tour guide for business owners interested in learning how they can leverage the power of the Groupon brand, tools and solutions to work for them.

One of the key features of the site (it’s pretty hard to miss) is a video mosaic of merchant success stories—in their own words—that greets users upon arrival.

The videos on the opening page are only a small fraction of the hundreds of case studies and video testimonials on the site. These merchant stories are easily sortable by business type, topics of interest or geographical location in order to help users see relevant experiences applicable to them.

As you may have heard, we’re not just a daily deals company anymore. GrouponWorks.com highlights Groupon’s comprehensive suite of merchant products, services and resources in a sleek and understandable format. Some of these include: Groupon Featured Deals, Groupon Now!, real-time deals perfect for a few empty tables, Groupon Rewards, the easiest loyalty program available for merchants and Groupon Scheduler, an online appointment scheduling application.

Finally, GrouponWorks.com also showcases our merchant resources that help business owners get the most out of their Groupon experience, including the Groupon Merchant Center—an innovative dashboard providing customer insights, feedback and performance measurement across Groupon campaigns.

True to its name, the site shows how Groupon works for businesses.

Have you visited any of the businesses in our case study and video testimonial library? Do you have questions about our suite of merchant products, services, resources or the Groupon signup process? Let us know in the comments section below!

There are many voices heard in the halls of Groupon HQ, and one internet butterfly net used to capture the stories of employees is our People Blog, a one stop spot for all-things Groupon culture:

I’m Dustin Carper and I’m the Employment Brand Strategist for Groupon. I look at my role as the marketing and PR side of recruiting and what it’s like to work here. I’ve always been interested in social from a personal standpoint, and have been diving into the world of social recruiting and employment branding over the past few years. Blogging is a good way to show (vs. tell) people what it’s like to work at Groupon and also gives employees a way to do the same.

What’s featured on your blog? Why would people want to visit it?Anything about the office life and ‘corporate’ world of Groupon is featured on the People Blog, from out recent dodgeball tournament to pictures of people’s desks that have been pranked to a weekly check-in with our interns. Anyone thinking about joining the Groupon team and employees alike would want to visit to see what’s going on around here.

What’s been your favorite story you’ve covered?We just started an Engineer spotlight and I’ve been really impressed so far. Sometimes I forget that we’re a pretty big company and reading these is a good reminder that our technology team is really impressive. Who would have known that we have someone who used to design software for monkeys? Also, it seems as though a lot of our engineers have started companies of their own before joining Groupon, so that’s fun to learn about. Desk of the Week is pretty fun, too.

Summer can be unbearable when you’re required to wear so many layers of clothing to protect your skin from the sun. That’s why this week we’re featuring refreshing deals to help keep you cool this time of year.

Melissa & Doug Water Toys Set – Contrary to popular belief, humans need water to survive. This water toy set includes a sprinkler, bubble kit, spray bottle, and squirters with fun sea-creature designs for children to keep them properly hydrated on the outside.

Summer Frizz Total Solution Package or Hair Products – If the circumference of your hairdo increases with the temperature index, these natural hair products moisturize and protect curls or damaged locks.

It’s not just the similar spelling that makes Groupon and buildOn a good pairing, though that does help when mnemonic devices prove unreliable. We’re working to encourage Voluntourism (i.e.,volunteer tourism) and Groupon Getaways is teaming up with our most successful Grassroots campaign – this time offering the chance to volunteer and build schools in Nepal or Nicaragua with The Amazing Race winners Ernie and Cindy!

Patty Huber, Manager of Groupon Grassroots:

The allure of voluntourism – exotic locations and new cultures, shared group experiences and the great feeling when making a difference – attracts new people to volunteering every day. In the same way that Groupon helps people discover new experiences, voluntourism helps people discover an untapped passion for service and often sparks a life-long commitment to serving others.

Getaways and Grassroots have partnered in the past to help transform communities. Back in April, Groupon Getaways sold out forty spots for two volunteering trips to Zambia with Spark Ventures. This summer’s campaign with buildOn allows an intimate group to travel to remote villages and construct schools for children without access to education. Additionally, for each trip purchased, buildOn will provide the same experience to an inner-city student from the U.S.

We’re also excited to announce that Ernie Halvorsen and Cindy Chiang, winners of the 19th season of The Amazing Race, will accompany guests on the Nepal trip. “”Having traveled around the world and seeing the need to support developing areas, Cindy and I feel the best way to provide a better tomorrow is by supporting educational programs,” said Halvorsen.

Today’s featured merchant post was guest authored by Stacey Caplan, Public Relations Intern:

Salsa dancing is a fun way to exercise and have fun with friends, which is why Oscar Ochoa, owner of Miami Salsa Driven, thought Groupon would be a great way to introduce his favorite cultural pastime to new customers and help grow his business. “Summer is our slow season, so we wanted to do something to spice things up and keep our studio full with customers,” Ochoa said. “Salsa classes are more fun when more people join us.”

When Groupon reached out to Miami Salsa Driven in the summer of 2011 to run, Oscar couldn’t have been more excited about running their first deal. “We were actually thinking about calling Groupon anyways, so we were happy that Groupon wanted to work with us,” he said. Their first deal ran in September 2011 and was a major success. In fact, Miami Salsa Driven has already run two more Groupon deals since.

According to Oscar, Groupon deals bring new faces to his salsa classes and new customer memberships. He estimates that 10-15 percent of customers that redeemed his second deal converted into full-time members. He also used Groupon Scheduler, which helps his employees forecast the number of customers attending classes, allowing them to plan and staff more efficiently.

Oscar is happy to use Groupon regularly as one of his primary marketing tools because he’s seen the great results it has helped to deliver for his business. His customers love his classes, and he enjoys sharing his passion with others. “If the customers are happy, then we are happy,” he said.

If you live in Texas, try an Introductory Discovery Flight Package – Educational materials precede flight lesson led by FAA-certified instructors and would-be pilots are connected with area flight schools.

Things don’t just get boring in the US–Canada can partake in anti-boredom offers as well with Online Cooking Classes Led by “Top Chef” Contestants. With the help of contestants from this Emmy-award-winning cooking show, novice chefs can learn from over 200 online video lessons and recipes.

Commuting is more fun if it involves any amount of pep and/or zip. For those who prefer scooting to a destination, there’s a Greenbee Metro 2 Electric Motorcycle – After charging for up to 4.5 hours, this electric motorcycle transports riders without emitting harmful pollution or guzzling gas and oil.

Even when your brain feels bored, your body is still teeming with activity. Here’s a look at what your body is doing even when you’re not paying attention:

Like all publicly traded companies, Groupon requires its employees to write their email password on a whiteboard in the reception area. Here are some of the entries you’d see if you walked into Groupon: